Nick Abelman – A Gambling Man

Nick Abelman – A Gambling Man

Nathan “Nick” Abelman was a pioneering figure in Nevada’s casino and gambling industry, inspiring admiration among history enthusiasts and industry professionals for his innovative contributions.

Abelman operated casinos for 44 years before passing away on December 15, 1951. His innovations in casino management and the expansion of gambling venues, such as the Waldorf and Ship and Bottle casinos in Reno, significantly shaped Nevada’s gambling landscape, cementing his legacy as a pioneer in the industry.

Abelman’s Early Life

Abelman’s family arrived in Chicago from Kovno, Lithuania, and found what most immigrant families found: hard work in the stockyards, corruption, saloons, and gambling. To escape the harsh conditions, his parents, Harrison and Lena, moved Mary, Philip, Joseph, and Nick to Bessemer, Michigan, in 1890, to join their older son, Abraham. Ironically enough, at the age of twenty, Nick took what little he had saved and invested in a saloon with his friend, Clarence McLean. The partnership lasted two years, and the club offered poker tables and bar-top gaming devices, such as the Clawson three-pocket jackpot slot and a nickel-operated roulette machine.

After the partner’s lease ended, Abelman moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he again invested in saloons. Still, the town’s corruption and violence left him frustrated and longing for a new start, which he found 2,300 miles away in Nevada’s mining towns.

Arrival in Goldfield, Nevada

Abelman arrived in Goldfield, Nevada, in 1904 and found a dry, dusty town where his automobile was a rare commodity. He immediately began a jitney service and drove local mine owners like George Wingfield about town and out to mining sites. The friendship would be profitable for both men, with Abelman becoming successful and Wingfield becoming the richest and most powerful man in the state.

Over the next twenty years, Abelman opened successful gambling houses in every Northern Nevada boomtown. Towns like Tolicha, Rawhide, Bullfrog, Weepah, and Manhattan came and went, but Goldfield and the saloons in Tonopah remained a steady source of income until the 1920s. Clubs like the Cobwebs, Bon-Ton Club, The Big Casino, and Tonopah Club were favorites of miners and townsfolk. Abelman ran each casino, but real-estate magnate Wingfield owned the buildings and took a cut of the profits.

Wingfield also asked Abelman to put two of his bodyguards, Jim McKay and Bill Graham, to work at the clubs. Both were capable, loyal, and ruthless. They moved to Reno, Nevada, when Wingfield did, to open saloons and gambling halls, even though prohibition was still in force and gambling was illegal in the town of Reno. This context underscores the illegal yet thriving gambling scene that Abelman navigated and contributed to during that era.

Reuniting with George Wingfield in Reno, Abelman’s collaboration exemplifies his lasting influence and dedication to Nevada’s gambling history, inspiring readers’ respect.

In 1927, Wingfield asked Abelman to move to Reno. As chronicled in Mob City: Reno, Abelman brought along his partners, Bert Riddick and Steve Pavlovich, and together they opened Reno’s first plush casino, the Ship and Bottle, complete with the prow of a boat facing the Center Street traffic. This casino set new standards for luxury and entertainment, influencing the development of casino culture in Nevada and attracting Hollywood starlets and boxing champs like Jack Dempsey and Max Baer.

In 1932, the partners moved into the Wingfield-owned Riverside hotel and took over the small casino, the Riverside Buffet. The Riverside would become one of the most famous and successful casinos of the 1930s and 1940s. Abelman sold his interest in the Riverside casino to Mert Wertheimer in 1949.

Abelman hated the telephone, not wanting the local operators to hear his conversations, so he trusted associates like Fran Pettite to relay messages. Fran was the nephew of June Pettite, Nick’s second wife, and later worked as a pit boss at the Waldorf Club, the Mapes, and other casinos in Reno.

For several years, Nick owned and operated a club on Plumas Street called the Willow Club, as well as casinos in California towns. He also owned clubs at Lake Tahoe, including the Christmas Tree Lodge on Mount Rose Highway (1940’s), the Tahoe Village (1940’s), and the Stateline Country Club, purchased from Cal Custer in 1931.

The Stateline Country Club grew into a very popular casino that operated each summer at Lake Tahoe. According to the book, The Roots of Reno, Abelman sold his interest in the casino after 15 years to Nick and Eddie Sahati for $400,000. The brothers changed the name to Sahati’s Stateline Club, and Bill Harrah purchased the casino five years later and built Harrah’s Tahoe on the site.

Throughout his career, Abelman’s investments and innovations left a lasting legacy, fostering pride and curiosity among history enthusiasts about Nevada’s gambling evolution.